Letter from America: Anyone buying or selling tickets?

They landed in Kennedy and a big yellow taxi took them and their bags through the streets and the rain. Or not. We haven’t seen a drop of the wet stuff yet, thank God. Only an earthquake.

I hope those who arrived since had smoother flights than mine; somewhere between Natashquan and La Romaine above the Gulf of St Lawrence on Thursday we hit a wicked blast of turbulence just as – I kid you not – the in-flight radio was playing The Final Countdown by Europe.

We're leaving together, but still, it's farewell 

And maybe, we'll come back to Earth, who can tell?

I hope to collect my stomach somewhere on the way home.

But here we all are, safely landed, survivors of a 4.8 tremor, and it hasn’t taken long to spot the travelling Green and Red army.

You can see them strutting their O’Neill’s attire like Fifth Avenue is their catwalk. They’ve filled all four floors of Connolly’s on 121 W 45th Street off Broadway (where Swinford’s Síamsa Sráide Festival held a brilliant 40th birthday celebration on Friday night) and The Joyce on 315 W 39th Street. And all sorts have come.

There are the boys on tour, the girls on tour, fathers and sons, entire families, and couples – Mick, wishing he was with the boys on tour, Mary having seen Mayo play more times in New York than she has in the National League.

To be fair to Mary, there’s a few soldiers in Mayo jerseys here who already have you wondering if they’ll even see the inside of Gaelic Park come Sunday. Let’s just say they don’t seem too stressed about the ridiculous ticket situation. Which is what exactly? Nobody seems to know.

I made contact with a New York GAA official in advance of travelling this week just to let them know I would be attending the match as part of the media corps. The official swiftly replied, acknowledged and thanked me for my email to which I sent an immediate follow-up and asked if tickets would be on general sale at the ground. That was Tuesday. I’m still awaiting a reply.

For New York GAA to publicly declare the game a sell-out and for Connacht GAA, the organisers of the fixture, to refute that and assure travelling supporters that tickets will be available to purchase at the gate, is more than not good enough – it’s farcical.

I have met Mayo supporters who have spent thousands of euros to come to New York for the game and who are now genuinely stressed about the prospect of turning up to Gaelic Park on Sunday and not gaining entry, no matter how early they arrive.

We’ve all heard the cry on All-Ireland Final morning beneath the bridge in Drumcondra or outside The Gresham on O’Connell Street of ‘Anyone buying or selling tickets?’. But outside Van Cortlandt Park station on West 242nd Street or in Connolly’s, which has become an unofficial base camp for fans? Don’t be surprised.